ArticleThe oncologist2021
Diagnostic Performance of the 4-Item Geriatric Depression Scale for Depression Screening in Older Patients with Cancer: The ELCAPA Cohort Study.
Article in The oncologist, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Dance movement therapy for dementia.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
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- Psychometric evidence of the WHO-5 well-being index in a sample of participants from hospitals and older adults care centers in Peru.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
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- Patient-rated scales improve the classification accuracy for patients with depression and anxiety disorder: a linear discriminant analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2024Article
- Prevalence and Management of Chronic Pain, Including Neuropathic Pain, in Dialysis Patients with End-Stage Renal Disease.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2024Article
- Physical frailty recovery is slower than mental frailty recovery after non-cardiac surgery in older adult patients.Langenbeck's archives of surgery · 2023Article
- Diagnostic Performance of Screening Tools for Depressive Symptoms in Vulnerable Older Patients with Cancer Undergoing Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA): Results from the SCREEN Pilot Study.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn older patients with cancer, depression is difficult to assess because of its heterogeneous clinical expression. The 4-item version of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-4) is quick and easy to administer but has not been validated in this population. The present study was designed to test the diagnostic performance of the GDS-4 in a French cohort of older patients with cancer before treatment. MATERIALS AND
methodsOur cross-sectional analysis of data from the Elderly Cancer Patient cohort covered all patients with cancer aged ≥70 years and referred for geriatric assessment at two centers in France between 2007 and 2018. The GDS-4's psychometric properties were evaluated against three different measures of depression: the geriatrician's clinical diagnosis (based on a semistructured interview), the 4th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and a cluster analysis. The scale's sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratios, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) were calculated.
resultsIn a sample of 2,293 patients (median age, 81 years; women, 46%), the GDS-4's sensitivity and specificity for detecting physician-diagnosed depression were, respectively, 90% and 89%. The positive and negative likelihood ratios were 8.2 and 0.11, and the AUROC was 92%. When considering the subset of patients with data on all measures of depression, the sensitivity and specificity values were, respectively, ≥90% and ≥72%, the positive and negative likelihood ratios were, respectively, ≥3.4 and ≤ 0.11, and the AUROC was ≥91%.
conclusionThe GDS-4 appears to be a clinically relevant, easy-to-use tool for routine depression screening in older patients with cancer. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Considering the overlap between symptoms of cancer and symptoms of depression, depression is particularly difficult to assess in older geriatric oncology and is associated with poor outcomes; there is a need for a routine psychological screening. Self-report instruments like the 4-item version of the Geriatric Depression Scale appears to be a clinically relevant, easy-to-use tool for routine depression screening in older patients with cancer. Asking four questions might enable physicians to screen older patients with cancer for depression and then guide them toward further clinical evaluation and appropriate care if required.
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